Wire-fence stretcher.



J. W. SNEDEKER.

WIRE FENCE STRETOHER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1913.

1,099,3 1 9. Patented June 9,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR Z M. W Jiimas Wl1edelr h. r7. 4?

A TTORIVEY COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH c0.,WAsmNn'r0N. D. c

J. W. SNEDEKER.

WIRE FENCE STRETGHER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. 1913.

1,099,31 9, Patented June 9, 1914.

2 SHEBTS-SHEBT 2.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR fs/ Jcilr ies W 57760 61???" B QMW WM 11 TTORll/EVCOLUMQIA PLANOGRAFN 60.,WASNINOTOH. n. L

JAMES W. SNEIDEKER, 0F ADRIAN, MICHIGAN.

WIRE-FENCE STRETGHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 9, 1914.

Application filed December 4, 1913. Serial No. 804,565.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES W. SNEDEKER, acitizen of the United States,residing at Adrian, in the county ofLenawee, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in VVire-Fence Stretchcrs; and I do declare the followingtobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thecharac ters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to a device for stretching wire fence, andconsists in the. construction and employment of parts as hereinafterfully set forth and pointed out particularly in the claims.

The object of the invention is to provide simple, light and efficientmeans, for use in connection with anchor chains and a clamp bar, forapplying tension to the wires of a fence preparatory to securing thewires to the posts of the fence.

The invention further contemplates such improvements in the structuralformation of the stretching means as to simplify the number of parts andlighten andstrengthen their formation, to enable the assembling of theoperative parts in. a manner to obviate the necessity for the employment of bolts and nuts in the structure, 1n which the parts are sowrought or cast as to be practically self-attaching, so as to reduce toa minimum the cost of production, and to further provide for theapplication of leverage power with comparative ease to exert ample forcefor stretching the wires of the fence to any degree of tension desired.

The above object is attained by the construction and employment of themechanism illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a section of wire fence, showing thisinvention as applied thereto, in connection with a clamp bar and chains,for stretching the wires of the fence. Fig. 2 is a detached plan view ofthe stretching device.1 Fig. 3 is a transverse horizontal sectionthrough the stretchtors of reference marked thereon, 1 indicates in ageneral way the stretcher or tension applying (lcvice, 2 representsanchor chains for securing the stretcher toa post 3 of the fence, 4designates a clamp bar for attachment to the horizontal wires 5 of thefence, and 6 represents stretcher chains for conmeeting the clamp bar tothe stretcher 1, by means of which tension is applied to the clamp barto draw said bar longitudinally of the fence and thereby stretch thewires preparatory to securing said wires to the posts 3 of the fence, ina manner similar to that commonly employed for setting up wire fence, asclearly shown in Fig. 1.

The clamp bar carrying a plurality of clamps for attachment to thehorizontal wires of the fence herein illustrated, forms the subjectmatter of a co-pending application, and a description of this particularfeature need not be set forth herein, as it is only employed to betterillustrate the application of the stretching device when employed inconjunction therewith for stretching wire fence.

The essential features of this invention reside in the construction andassociation of the operative parts that constitute the means forapplying tension tothe wires of the fence. andconsist in the particularmeans of forming and uniting the parts in a manner to insurelightness,strength and simplicity in the structure. To this end the invention iscarried out as follows: The main arm 7 of the device, upon which themechanism is supported, is provided with an offset extension 8terminating in a flattened end' 9, in which is formed an angularaperture 10 forming a chain grip yoke for the reception. of and lockingengagement with a link of the anchor chain 2, by means of which thedevice is anchored in position, as shown in Fig. 1. Extending in theplane of the arm I 29 a ratchet pawl 30.

7 from one side at right-angle thereto, is a short arm 11, and extendinglaterally from the face of said arm is a short pivot stud. 12.Projecting laterally from the body of the arm 7, at its point ofjuncture with the arm 11, is a hollow journal 13, the body portionofwhich is reduced in diameter midway its length, forming a shoulder 14:thereon, while the outermost end of said journal is provided with acentrally projecting riveting stud 15. A second riveting stud 16 isformed on the face of the offsetportion 8 of the arm 7, projectingtherefrom in a line parallel with the stud 15. All of the partsconstituting this member are formed integral therewith, and arepreferably made from a casting of malleable iron, the journal beingcored out to reduce the weight.

Mounted upon the studs 15 and 16 of the hollow journal and the offsetportion of the main arm respectively, is an offset side arm 17, which issecured rigidly thereon and to the corresponding members of said mainarm by riveting over the heads of said studs uponthe outer face of saidside arm, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

J ournaled to rotate upon the hollow journal 13 is a flanged wheel ordisk 18, having formed in the inner perimeter of its flange 19a seriesof internal ratchet teeth 20, and

upon the periphery of said flange a series of external ratchet teeth 21.Projecting later ally from the face of said disk, concentric therewith,is a hub 22 carrying sprocket teeth 23 disposed centrally thereon andprojecting radially therefrom, said hub being also provided with a guideflange 24 formed concentrically on the outer end thereof. All of saidparts are formed integral by casting with the use of cores for formingthe interior and overhanging portions. The body of the hub is embracedupon the hollow journal 13 between the shoulderll thereof and the innerface of the side arm 17, and is held against lateral movement by-saidmembers. The purpose of the flange 24 of the sprocket toothed hub is toserve as a guide in directing thelinks of the chainonto the sprocketteeth of the hub and prevent the chain fouling the side arm 17. The freeend 25 of said side arm is turned inwardly at right angle 130 the bodyportion and terminates in a fork 26, having stripping fingers 27 betweenwhich the sprocket teeth 23 of the hub 22 are adapted to pass, asclearly shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

Fulcrumed upon the stud 12 of the arm 11, and held for disengagementtherewith by riveting over the head of said stud, is an actuating lever28, the lower end of which extends below the fulcrum of said lever, andto which is pivoted eentrally' upon a stud Oneend of said ratchet pawlis: provided with a tooth 31 adapted to engage the internalratchett'eeth 20 of the disk 18. The opposite end of the pawl isprovided with a finger-lift 32 which serves as a means for rocking saidpawl upon its pivot to disengage its tooth from a tdoth of the disk, andalso serves as a weight to overbalance said pawl to normally hold itstooth in engagement with said ratchet teeth. A second ratchet pawl 33 ispivoted upon a stud 34 projecting from the face of the lever 28, at apoint above the fulcrum of said lever and in a parallel line with thestud 29 thereof. Said pawl is also provided. at one end with a tooth 35adapted to engage the ratchet teeth 21 in the periphery of the disk 18.The opposite end ofsaid pawl is provided with a finger-lift 36 by whichsaid pawl may be rocked upon its pivot to disengage its tooth with aratchet tooth 21 of said disk. The toothed end 35 .of the pawl 33o-verbalances the opposite end of'said pawl and normally lies inengagement with its correspondingratchet tooth of the disk 18, whereby,as the lever is 'swung'in either direction upon its fulcrum with the arm11, l

the ratchetpawls'carried thereon will be caused to alternately engageand disengage the corresponding and succeeding ratchet teeth of thedisk, and thereby intermittently impart a rotary movement to said diskand sprocket toothed hub. 1

The stretcher chain 6 attached at one end to the stretcher bar t iswound at its opposite end about the hub 22 in a manner to cause-thealternate horizontal linksof the chain to register with and engage thesprocket teeth 23 thereon, and as saidchain is drawn about said hubthroughits rotation by the actuation of the lever andratchet pawls,theoncoming horizontal links of the chain are engaged by the sprocketteeth, while the outgoing horizontal links of said chain are strippedfrom the sprocket teeth through their engagement with the forked fingers27 of the side arm 17, whereby the chain is discharged from the sprocketteeth upon one side of the hub as said chain feeds onto the sprocketteeth upon the opposite side of saidhub, as tension is applied there toin the operation of drawing the stretcher bar in stretching the wires ofthe fence (see Fig. 6). The pawls dropping automatically into engagementwith the ratchet teeth of the disk holdsaid disk against a reversemovement due to the tension of the chain, and when desirous of relievingthis tension the pawls may be disengaged from the ratchet teeth bymoving the fingenlifts on the ends thereof towardeach other, eithersimultaneously or alternately, to release the.

the, intervals of spacing of the exterior ratchet teeth are interposedby the interior ratchet teeth of the flange, thusalternating theshoulders of the teeth with relation to each other throughout thecircumference of the flange. By this arrangement a double number ofintervals of engagement are provided for alternate service with theopposed pawls, whereby, through a short swinging movement of the leversaid pawls will be caused to engage, alternately with each succeedingtooth, and thereby impart rotary movement to the disk to they extentonly of the length of the ratchet tooth with each movement of the lever,thus affording a gradual application of power to rotate the disk withthe greatest leverage force at a time when the tightening of the chainshall offer the greatest resistance, while a movement of the lever toits limit of a throw in either direction will cause said pawls to passover a number of the teeth on their respective sides of the flange, and.when finally engaging a tooth upon the return movement of the lever willcause said disk to rotate a correspondingly greater degree with thethrow of the lever, thus rotating more rapidly the disk and its sprockethub, as in taking up the slack of the chain to the point of bringing itunder the stress of the load.

To provide for backing up to relieve the tension on the chain, the teethof the pawls are of such length with relation to each other and theintervals of spacing of the respective teeth of the flange 19, that whenthe upper pawl 33 is in engagement with an external tooth of saidflange, the tooth of the lower pawl 30 will be free from engagement withthe shoulder of an internal tooth of said flange; thus to relieve theupper pawl from engagement, a slight movement of the lever to the left(see Fig. 4) will cause a rotation of the disk sufficient to allow thetooth of the lower pawl to engage a shoulder of an internal tooth, whenby releasing the lever the load will be transferred to the lower pawl;the upper pawl may then be rocked by pressure on the finger lift 36 toraise its toothed end 35 clear of the external teeth of the flange. Afurther movement of the lever to the left will place the tooth of saidpawl in engagement with the next succeeding external tooth, and byexerting tension upon the lever in a slightly farther forward directionthe toothed end of the lower pawl may then be freed from engagement withan internal tooth by raising its opposite end through the finger-lift 32thereon. The lever may then be returned with the backward rotation ofthe disk until the lower pawl is again engaged with another internaltooth, when the operation above described may be repeated by alternatelymanipulating the pawls to disengage them and permit a backward travel ofthe disk and sprocket hub in slacking tension on the chain.

Having thus fully set forth my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is'z l. A wire fence stretchingdevice com prising a forked supporting arm adapted for attachment to ananchor chain, a journal hearing on said arm, a ratchet disk havingexternal and internal ratchet teeth and a hub with sprocket teeththereon journaled on said bearing to dispose said sprocket teeth withinthe fork of said supporting arm, a lever fulcrumed to said supportingarm and having ratchet pawls pivoted thereto upon opposite sides of itsfulcrum bearing adapted to engage the ratchet teeth of said disk.

2. A wire fence stretching device comprising a main arm having ajournal. thereon, a side arm rigidly secured to said main arm and to theend of said journal, an internal and external ratchet toothed diskhaving a sprocket toothed huh mounted to rotate on said journal hot-weensaid main and side arms, a lever fulcrumed near one end to said mainarm, ratchet pawls pivoted to said lever upon opposite sides of itsfulcrum hearing and adapted to engage the ratchet teeth respectively ofsaid disk.

3. A wire fence stretching device comprising a main arm adapted forattachment to an anchor chain, an extended portion at one end of saidarm and a journal extending laterally from the face thereof, a side armrigidly attached to said main arm and to the end of said journal, thefree end of said side arm having an inwardly projecting forkedextension, a flanged disk having internal and external ratchet teethformed in the flange thereof, a flanged hub on said disk having sprocketteeth, said hub mounted to rotate on said journal to cause said sprocketteeth to pass within the forked extension of said side arm, a leverfulcrumed near one end to the extended portion of said main arm, aratchet pawl pivoted to said lever and adapted to engage the externalratchet teeth of said flange, a second ratchet pawl pivoted to saidlever and adapted to engage the internal ratchet teeth of said flange.

4. A wire fence stretching device comprising a main arm having anextended body portion and adapted for attachment to an anchor chain, ahollow journal formed integral with said arm upon one side thereof,integral studs projecting from the face of said arm and the end of saidjournal, a side arm engaging said studs and rigidly secured thereby tosaid main arm and journal, a forked extension formed integral with theend of said side arm and extending inwardly parallel with said side arm,a flanged disk having external and internal ratchet teeth and a flangedhub with sprocket teeth formed integral thereon, mounted to rotate onsaid journal to cause said sprocket teeth to pass between the sides ofsaid forked extension, a lever fulorunied upon any in tegral stud ofsaid niain arni extension and having integral studs thereon, a ratchetpawl pivoted upon a stud of said lever and adapted to engage theexternal ratchet teeth of said disk, aratchet pawl pivot-ed upon, a studof said lever and adapted to engage the internal ratchet teeth of saiddisk, and

finger-lifts on. the ends of said paWls, for 10 disengaging said pawls.from the ratchet teeth of said disk.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twoWitnesses.

JAMES W. SNEDEKER. Vitnesses EDNA CULVEB, F. E. Oseooo.

'copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents; Washington, D. 0.

